It's alive!

sleeper

sleeper

Former LOD President
I got my car off the jack stands tonight and got it rolling. I learned a few things, though. For example, always take the rear end down first, especially if there is no air in the front bags.

I ran into one more problem. It seems i cut one of the o-rings on the LF air spring solenoid. So i'm slammed at one corner. And it was almost impossible getting that jack out.

Anyway, it runs and drives. It ran for awhile with no check engine light, but now it has one. I haven't been able to get it out on the street to make sure it shifts through all the gears, but i know first and second work, and reverse. Everything else should be fine, since i didn't mess with the valve body. Still no exhaust, it's loud as hell. I hope to get the exhaust put on tomorrow. I'll pull the codes and see what the light is for tomorrow too. May be the air injection, may be egr, may be rich/lean, who knows. Between the ported intake and the headers, i'm sure i could have thrown off the a/f. But then again, i may have just missed hooking a sensor back up.

I did a couple of holeshots in the driveway. I have nothing resembling traction. It just blows the tires off.
 
RE: It's alive!

Best wishes on your project, thanks for the post. All the Eyes at the "Walleye Capital of the World" are on you. Keep us posted.
 
RE: It's alive!

I replaced the broken o-ring and took it for a spin down the street. Everything seems to be working fine. It's extremely loud :). I wanted to get an open-header burnout video, but i don't think i'll be able to before i take it in for the exhaust tomorrow.
 
RE: It's alive!

I got the exhaust done today. The car sounds a little meaner than before i started, and definitely picked up power. I have no clue how it'll launch with traction, but right now it'll burn them all the way through first gear and into second.

I did find one more problem, and i have no clue how to go about fixing it. The steering shaft is rubbing the header. It's just barely touching. It's kind of funny, because when i turn the steering wheel so the flat of the shaft is toward the primary that it's rubbing, it stops rubbing. I'm hoping that it'll just wear the shaft and header away slightly and stop rubbing, without putting a hole in either piece. I'm not taking the header back out and redoing the primary, and i don't see how i could modify the shaft to clear, so that's all i can do.
 
RE: It's alive!

Glad to hear it's working out. Get that thing to the track for some times dude! I want to know how it runs. I also want to see your 60' times.

When mine rubbed I pulled the tube that was hitting and beat it with a hammer. It wasn't bad at first, but then it got worse. I also had the luxury of having individual tubes, so that helped. I think Joe had the same problem in his, and he just pulled the steering shaft and beat it in a little. If it rubs enough to wear down it will wear through and leak.

Good job on the project though.
 
RE: It's alive!

I might be able to get a die grinder or an air chisel in there to dent in the steering shaft. I don't think i'll be able to get a hammer in there, and i don't want to dent the header in anyway.

Isn't that steering shaft solid when you get a few inches away from the u-joint? If so, i should be able to grind enough off to make it clear, without compromising the shaft.
 
RE: It's alive!

do not grind on the steering shaft or ujoint. Take the joint out and then barely bend that header tube in. That is why I did nto like the way CHris designed his headers. It is always too damn close. I put all the tubes over the shaft. Not 2 above and two below
 
RE: It's alive!

Well i already ground the shaft down. It's a lot better, but i think i'll still have to bend the header just a little.

I took the round parts almost down to the diameter of the flat part. It still hits sometimes, like when i hit the gas going around a right turn. Other than that it seems okay.

And these aren't 2 under 2 over, they're 3 under 1 over. The first two have plenty of room, the last one (the rearmost cylinder on the drivers side) is the one that's rubbing, about 4-5" up from the steering joint. There's a good inch of clearance all around the joint. If it were one of the other two primaries rubbing i wouldn't have ground the shaft, but the shaft appears to be solid up there so I don't think it'll be a problem.

Right now the only time it's hitting is when I'm going kind-of quickly and turning right. I guess the motor shifts over a little when it turns and it hits. I'm going to leave it like this for a little while and see how it feels, if it bothers me in normal driving I'll dent the header a little. I hate to dent the header at all, considering I already spent $100 to get a kink taken out of one of the primaries.
 
RE: It's alive!

a kink in the primaires might cost a hp but will definatly not endanger your life. I think loosing a hp is better than a loss of steering while going down the road.
 
RE: It's alive!

Unless that shaft is hollow and i just don't know it yet, i don't see how i could possibly lose steering. I still have a 5/8" - 3/4" thick shaft, and it's only loaded torsionally with what, 20 ft-lbs, maybe 100 max if i hit a curb? I've got bolts on the car thinner than that torqued to more than twice that, and (of course) loaded in tension too. I still have more shaft there to take the torque than i do where it's cut out (stock) to fit the joint in there.

I agree, i don't like reducing the strength of any steering components, but i think it'll be just fine.
 
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When I put mine in it barely rubbed, then after a few weeks it got to the point where I couldn't turn the steering wheel. I think everything settled in. Joe is just trying to keep it safe.
 
RE: It's alive!

the motor mounts will continue to settle and the problems will continue. Some of the steering shaft is hollow. IT telescopes in and out but that is not where your problems are. I know the end of the shaft is hollow too. I will have my brother check out red whore and see if it is hollow all the way up. It could be.
 
RE: It's alive!

I tapped it with a pry bar, it doesn't sound hollow. I also tested the strength by turning the steering wheel all the way and then turning it as hard as i possibly could. No cracks, twisting, or breaking. I'm pretty sure the shaft is solid there, and even in the spot where it's ground it's thicker than the DD shaft that's going into the joint. But if you could double-check the red whore for me, Joe, i'd appreciate it.

I am still having a rubbing problem though. Going straight or left, no problem. If i go right, it rubs. If i go right hard enough, the motor will lay on the shaft and i have to use excessive force to go straight again. That's somewhat disconcerting when you're sideways, but hey, i caught it. I tried to dent the pipe in at that point, and i failed. I can't bend it with a pry bar, and even if i disconnect the shaft i'm not going to be able to get it out of the way (it won't collapse that much). I tried heating it up with mapgas but i can't get it hot enough to bend.

I'm going to take it to the exhaust shop tomorrow and have them heat the header with a torch and bend it for me. That really sucks though. If that header ever has to come out, that primary is getting re-routed.
 
RE: It's alive!

I believe Dave has a set of "whore headers". How they came along is Eli bought some BBK's from a fellow off the net. He then was going to have me redo them for him. I got busy and did not like the design of the headers so he wound up sending them to Chris K in VEgas. He redid them and sent them back to ELi. Once Eli got them he decided that he loved the Bassani mid lengths so much that he was going ot make them work.

I told him I could find someone to buy the headers so he would have some cash to pick up the bassani's, so I asked around and found that Steve Strapp wanted them. SO Eli sold them to Steve and i took them to him during a Chicago meet. WEll Steve had troubles with his car and the headers were installed and ran for about 2 hours and then taken off. At some point Steve decided that he had enough bought a WS6 and decided to sell all the parts that he bought for his car. That is where Dave comes into play. Dave talked to steve and then bought some parts from Steve for a good price. Quite a story for jsut headers.
 
RE: It's alive!

I tapped it with a pry bar, it doesn't sound hollow. I also tested the strength by turning the steering wheel all the way and then turning it as hard as i possibly could. No cracks, twisting, or breaking. I'm pretty sure the shaft is solid there, and even in the spot where it's ground it's thicker than the DD shaft that's going into the joint. But if you could double-check the red whore for me, Joe, i'd appreciate it.

I am still having a rubbing problem though. Going straight or left, no problem. If i go right, it rubs. If i go right hard enough, the motor will lay on the shaft and i have to use excessive force to go straight again. That's somewhat disconcerting when you're sideways, but hey, i caught it. I tried to dent the pipe in at that point, and i failed. I can't bend it with a pry bar, and even if i disconnect the shaft i'm not going to be able to get it out of the way (it won't collapse that much). I tried heating it up with mapgas but i can't get it hot enough to bend.

I'm going to take it to the exhaust shop tomorrow and have them heat the header with a torch and bend it for me. That really sucks though. If that header ever has to come out, that primary is getting re-routed.
Click to expand...

THey will have to get it red hot to get it to move easily. No big deal if you bend the tubes a little it will still be a slow gen 2...
 
RE: It's alive!

Alright, i had them bend the primary a little. It seems to be fine now. I suppose it might still rub if i'm autocrossing, but other than that it's good. I had them bend it out of the way, then test drove it, and found that it still rubbed if i was taking a parking-lot tight right turn at excessive speed, so i had them bend it a little more.

However, I also seem to have a slight problem with the flex plate/flywheel rubbing something. It only happens in reverse, when i brake-torque it a little, and just a little on start up. What could be causing that?
 
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